Selina Ballance

The Byzantine Churches of Trebizond
Author(s): Selina Ballance

Source: Anatolian Studies , 1960, Vol. 10 (1960), pp. 141-175
Published by: British Institute at Ankara
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3642433
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THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES OF TREBIZOND
By SELINA BALLANCE
THE MATERIAL IN this article was collected during a three-m

Trebizond (now Trabzon) in the summer of 1958, financed by
Florence bursary awarded by the R.I.B.A., to whom I am most
only for the bursary but for permission to publish the material
My especial thanks are due to Mr. David Winfield, lea
Russell Trust Expedition which is cleaning the wall-paintings i
Trebizond, for immense help and encouragement and for int
both to churches and to officials ; to the officials, especially the
Education and the Mufti, for their courtesy and assistance ; to
Agurbay ; and to the many tapeholders, both Turkish and British
pressed into service.
It must be made clear at the start that, as I am an architect a
scholar, archaeologist nor art historian, my approach is archit
structural. The necessary reading of Greek, both inscriptions and
books, has been done by my husband. In the matter of wall-p
which there are many, I have done no more than commen
existence.
The justification for carrying out this survey of the churches of

Trebizond is that, though they are frequently referred to as forming an
isolated offshoot of later Byzantine architecture and have been the subject
of articles in learned journals, no accurate survey has been published of any
of them. Texier, in Description de l'Arminie,1 shows a view of St. Sophia,
which is repeated in his Byzantine Architecture 2 with the addition of a plan
and some details of the same church and a plan and section of the
Chrysocephalos. Though interesting, they are, like much of Texier's
work, unreliable. Millet's article on " Les Monasteres et les eglises de
Tribizonde " 3 contains much useful historical and comparative material,
but has only sketch plans, and those not always accurate in detail. The most
thorough structural analyses of any of the churches were those carried out
by N. Brounov and N. Baklanov,4 who studied the churches of St. Sophia,
St. Eugenios and the Chrysocephalos during the brief Russian occupation
of the city in 1916-17 and who were the first to draw attention to the
evidence of major alterations to the buildings, though not all their theories
are entirely convincing. And even they did not produce more than sketch
1 C. Texier, Description de l'Armdnie, la Perse et la Misopotamie, Paris, i842, pp. 49,

50, P1. I.
2 C. Texier and R. Pullan, Byzantine Architecture, London, 1864, pp. 189-202, 217-18,
Pls. LX, LXIV.
3 G. Millet, " Les Monasteres et les 1glises de Trebizonde," BCH., XIX, 1895,
pp. 4I 9-459-
4 N. Brounov, " La Sainte-Sophie de Trebizonde," Byzantion, IV, pp. 393-408;
N. Baklanov, " Deux Monuments Byzantins de Trebizonde," Byzantion, IV, pp. 363-391.
M

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142 ANATOLIAN STUDIES
plans. Finally, Professor Talbot Rice's public

an article on the religious buildings 5 which is
outside the town and has photographs of some
and a book, in conjunction with Millet, on th
and the sculptures of St. Sophia have been stu
M. Alpatov s respectively.
It must be emphasised that this article is o
mentioned above and has no pretensions to r
as to accuracy of surveying; and practically
has been gleaned from them.
Many travellers have passed through Treb
centuries and, of their accounts, those of Ham
most useful, Lynch's maps being especially v
The founding of the Christian Church in
assigned to St. Andrew 11 and it is certainly hig
a Christian community there from an early
Metropolitan of Trebizond, mentions tha
traditionally founded by Constantine.12 It
churches in the town in the time of Justinia
repair of some " which had been damaged by
but none survives from this period. Basil I (
had been damaged during the Iconoclast
St. Anne is still standing and bears an inscri
to 884/885.
As the capital of the theme of Chaldia, Trebizond had political
importance, as well as the mercantile importance which came from its
position as the seaport at the end of the long overland trade route from
the East-a route which increased in importance when wars disrupted the
shorter one to the Levantine ports. In the latter part of the I Ith century
it was recognised by Alexios I as a semi-independent State with Theodore
Gabras at its head; it was a bulwark against the Seljuk Turks as they
gradually gained control of more and more of Asia Minor. And in 1204, in
the same month that the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, Alexios
and David Comnenos, grandsons of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I, came
from Georgia where they had been living at the court of their aunt, the great
6 D. Talbot Rice, " Religious Buildings of Trebizond," Byzantion, V, pp. 47 et seq.

6 Millet and Talbot Rice, Byzantine Painting at Trebizond, London, 1936.
7J. Strzygowski, " Les Chapiteaux de Sainte-Sophie de Trebizonde," BCH., XIX,
1895, PP- 517-522.
8 M. Alpatov, " Reliefs de Sainte-Sophie de Trebizonde," Byzantion, IV, pp. 410-18.
9 W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia, London, 1842, vol. I,
pp. 159-162.
10 H. F. B. Lynch, Armenia, London, 1901, vol. I, pp. 8-36.
xx W. Miller, Trebizond, London, 1926, p. Io.
12 XpVwadvos, 'ApXETOV 16vrov, 4-5, Athens, I933.
x8 Procopius, De Aed., 3, 7 ; P. de Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, Paris, 1717, Tome II,
p. 234-

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THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES OF TREBIZOND 143
Queen Thamar, and took the city. They founded a dynasty that ou
the Byzantine Empire itself by eight years, Trebizond finally fal
Mehmet II in 146I.
Many of the churches in the city were taken over as mosques
shortly after 'the Turkish conquest, which has preserved them
destruction. Others which remained Christian until the exchange o
and Turkish populations in 1923 have since fallen into decay or bee
down : it is much to be hoped that St. Anne, the oldest building in th
will be saved by the Belediye and put into use as a museum depot.
B LA C Et A
~cr~-sl ? RAPEL O9
L RUICT : H C
NAKIP CAMi.
sT[ ANN NrIlarur
_ LU"7icoderr
'T. SOP4iA uZES Ll K.
~zlun.C-AMI"I
tR.YS OCEPH A LOS
0% of 0 6.14 ST. PIRILIP

N?E U G F.K O s
iso* n7.*
1( .(
t ...... ! , _
FIG. x. Map of Tr
In addition to the
from the countrys
discovered, especially
is immense (Mr. Wi
would almost certai
19th century.
In the following description the individual churches are dealt with in
alphabetical order: firstly, those in the city; secondly, those outside.
Professor Talbot Rice named two churches, both now gone, as Churches A
and B : in order to avoid confusion I have continued with this in un-named
buildings, i.e. Chapel D and Church C.
Throughout the plans one convention of hatching is observed : cross-
hatching for the earliest parts, single hatching for the second period and

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broken hatching for the latest period of e

Chrysocephalos and Kaymakli are the only e
are omitted as they have so little medieval bu
their wall-paintings.
0I 2 3 4 5m.
/I I i I
1 1 I
. 2. Plan of hurch
THE CHURCHES
The dating of the churches is extremely difficult. There is a paucity of

written records and only one dated inscription on stone 14; probably there
were many inscriptions on the frescoes-several were seen in the last
14 Millet gives many other inscriptions in an article " Inscriptions Byzantines de

Tribizonde ", BCH., XX, 1896, pp. 496-501, and in the article mentioned in note 3, but
none is relevant to the dating of the churches.

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century-but even those would not necessarily help with dating the buildin
as such, except as a terminus ante quem. Comparisons with churches elsew
can of course be helpful, but there do not appear to be any sufficiently c
parallels to offer dating evidence more exact than a century or
either way.
The date, within about fifty years, of St. Sophia is reasonably certain;
the last phase of St. Eugenios is almost certainly post-1340o. St. Philip has
certain minor decorative features in common with both of these : St. Anne
was rebuilt in 885 ; and apart from that we know virtually nothing. Thus
absolute dating has very little to go on: but even relative dating of parts
I I I
1 I I
I I
to (I
FIo. 3. Section of Church C, looking west.
within any given church is complicated by the fact that s

tions as straight joints, blocked doors and windows and
are frequently hidden by plaster or at best by several la
externally as well as internally.
CHURCH C. Plan and section, Figs. 2 and 3. P1. XVIa.

This church is included because, though it may wel
I8th century, there is just a possibility that it is Byzan
east wall and dome : and most of the west wall has bee
in the 19th century. The purpose of the chamber to t
and there is nothing to show whether it is earlier or
temporary with, the church itself. Possibly the two wid
the two, which are arched and are relatively low, were for
An interesting point about the plan is the strong local

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evident in the barrel-vaulting, not cross-vaultin

their being rectangular rather than square.
The columns and capitals are built up of
plastered; and all mouldings are of plaster.
THE CHRYSOCEPHALOS. Plan, Fig. 4.

The cathedral of Trebizond, known as t
headed Virgin, was originally attached to
building surviving within the castle walls wh
church, and was converted into a mosque wh
in 1461.
Only the ground floor plan is shown here : the key to the gallery stairs
was mysteriously lost, so no survey could be done of the upper floor,15
comprising galleries over aisles, narthex and exo-narthex and rooms over
the additions on the north-east ; nor could a section be attempted. Hence
this is not a full description of all parts of the church. Possibly there are clues
to be found in the upper storey which would help to solve some of the
problems, both those connected with the curious combination of elements
of the plan and those of dating, relative to each other, the different parts of
the building.
The plan is unusual in several respects. Though strongly basilical in
character, it has a dome, and transepts open from floor to vault running
north and south to the outer walls; the aisles, like the nave, are barrel-
vaulted, with ribs, but have galleries over them, even over the eastern bays
which are cut off from the rest by the transepts : and the vaults of the aisle
bays on the ground floor span at right-angles to those of the nave and the
galleries.
Galleried aisles are not common in basilicas and, as will be seen below,
it is very probable that this church was originally a basilica : but in some
of the Armenian churches with a more basilical than centralised plan,
e.g. Pitzounda,16 there are galleries. The arrangement of the vaults of the
ground-floor aisles has very few parallels: it occurs at Bin-bir-kilise
Nos. i and 6, but in both cases the vaults have been inserted later : Radauti,
Moldavia,17 is another example, but too late (I5th century) to have
exercised an influence here.
The exo-narthex is unique in Trebizond though not unknown else-
where : but the addition of the large north doorway and porch-itself a
normal feature in the city-is curious in a church with such a strong
east-west axis.
Unlike the other three-aisled churches in Trebizond, the Chr

cephalos had only one apse-the small south apse is of very rough
struction and much later-which is, however, typical of the local sty
15 Baklanov's sketch plans are of some use here, but are to a minute scale.
16 Fergusson, History of Architecture, London, i867, p. 337.
17 Ramsay and Bell, The Thousand and One Churches, London, I909, pp. 45 an
P. Henry, Les tglises de la Moldavie du .Nord, Paris, 1930.

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being five-sided and of finer masonry than th

the top 2 m. or so is not so well built. The
thus simply the east bay of north and south ai
a special treatment with domical vaults (the
and by being shut off from the rest of the ais
south aisle having a fine moulded surround wit
over it, carved with key ornament, egg-and-da
Access to the small first-floor rooms east of
the case of the north transept, by means of a l
on the arcade of classical columns with Ionic ca
doorway. (The modern staircase cuts into th
narrower at its east end.) The south trans
gallery across it, against the outer wall, as t
positions for beams, and the lintel of a door
in the east wall of the transept (see P1. XVIc, a
the south transept there are nibs (C on plan
which the blind arcading of the aisle outer
4' 50 m. above the floor : possibly they origina
transept vault and were cut down if the windo
or perhaps the nibs were for the support of
point of interest is the small window or door
into the bema from the small chamber to the
The north and south bays of the narthex
rest : just possibly there were stairs to the gal
not have fitted in very satisfactorily, and i
curious that they should have disappeared,
have been no necessity for thicker walls. Alter
towers here, though they are unusual outside S
The function of the additions at the north-e
they were part of the monastery complex
Turkish times. All the lower windows of th
those in the apse, which are almost certa
insertions : the inner sides may, however, hav
The dome drum is twelve-sided. Internally t
setting back the drum from the pendentive ri
forward (see P1. XVIIa). Externally the wi
arcaded recesses. All the roofs, except those of s
north, are of metal-formerly they were co
even, low pitch : it seems probable that origi
form of the vault was followed (see pp. 173-4
Other points of interest are the small rou
south transept; the re-used classical colum
north porch (as well as those at the north door
stone slabs in the tympanum over the porch
18 Professor Talbot Rice considers that it was moved

perhaps from a south door now blocked.

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opus sectile on the north and south walls of the bema and the inter
apse; and the moulded door surrounds, almost certainly re-u
ones, at the west ends of the nave and aisles. There is said to b
sectile floor under the existing timber floor of the apse ; and there
paintings hidden by whitewash, probably on most of the internal s
some were seen in 1916 19 ; in the 19th century traces of mosaic
visible on the exterior.20 The lintel of the north doorway has
Hadrianic inscription on it.
The dating of any part of the church is very difficult.
evidence, other than stylistic, is the report 21 of a plaque (since los
the date 9 14, which was found under the floor of the present buildi
repairs in 1877: it is said to have been built into the apse of
existing church by the Metropolitan Basil when restoring the
throne in 914-
Thus the present fabric is probably later than 914 : but Chrysan
quotes a dedication hymn preserved in Libadenus, sung at the
of the cathedral when Acacius was Metropolitan, after the gre
done to the town in I341 when the Hamidogullarl set fire to it
almost inconceivable that the plan and general form of the ch
from that time : in its positively grim exterior appearance it certa
older than St. Sophia and St. Eugenios, and though there is a gr
of solidity, dignity and simplicity in the interior, it has none of the
tion of St. Sophia. The single apse in a three-aisled church was
enough in the early churches but is most unusual later than
8th century (except possibly in Lycaonia).
It may be significant that this church, and the 9th-century
are the only ones in the city which are accurately laid out, wi
corners right-angles and the walls parallel. On stylistic ground
the I oth or perhaps I Ith century seems reasonable for the basil
with the dome perhaps I2th century (see below), but it is diff
how this can be reconciled with the evidence of the rededication
the mid-I4th century.
The church must have been considerably altered at differe
N. Baklanov, who studied it in 1917,23 while almost certainl
thinking that it was originally a basilica, was not radical en
theory being that all the piers as they stand were part of the origi
and that one in each arcade was removed, with of course the ga
vaulting of the two bays involved, to form the transepts. The curio
of the dome piers would then be due simply to the addition of som
on the inner angles to reduce the span of the nave bay. But fa
19 Millet, op. cit., in note 3, p. 458, quotes Marengo in Missions Catho

p. 303 ; Baklanov, op. cit., in note 4, P. 388. More were seen in 1959.
20 Rice, op. cit., in note 5, quotes Fallmerayer, Originalfragmente, Miin
I, p. 120.
21 Marengo, see note i9.
22 Chrysanthos, op. cit., in note 12, p. 245-
23 op. cit., in note 4.

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quite bear out this theory. The dome piers ar

plan (Fig. 4), cross-shaped ones with some
would also have had to be cut away, a sensele
is 8o cm. more than twice the width of a na
springing across the aisles from the dome pie
further west (B on plan), presumably for th
thrust. Hence it seems certain that transepts,
must all be contemporary. The reasons for be
does not date from the same time are firstly, t
to build a galleried church with such inconvenie
gallery east of the transepts-these small rooms
basilican plan ; second, that there is an indica
vault to the nave in the extra " step " in th
plan, and see P1. XVIIa), which is semicircula
unlike all the ribs of the nave and crossing,
Bearing out this is the fact that the cornice in t
bema gives way to a simpler coarser one, which
at the same point on the plan. Thus those parts
belong to the earliest period are the apse (bu
later) and all the structural walls of nave and
spring level, slightly lower than the prese
certainly belongs to this earlier period; th
because of the treatment as an important en
central bays of the narthex, whose vaults sp
strong directional axis towards the door of th
with dentil mouldings instead of arches at th
surely never have been lavished on what, wi
simply intermediate bays on the way into the
of the north and south bays, whether or not th
surely have been originally on the outer face of
the exonarthex was built cannot at the mome
possibly it is of the same date as the crossing.
The additions at the north-east are later t
probably i3th century, judging by a wind
St. Sophia type over it : the north porch is prob
south apse is later still: judging by other ch
porches became the fashion in the late 13th o
dating of the different periods is very diffic
is just possible, but on the whole unlikely, th
involving the insertion of the dome belongs to
the rededication hymn, 1340-50 : unlikely, b
major innovations to the cathedral at as late
the Empire (and therefore presumably the re
Turks came closer and closer, and because it onl
later periods of additions, of which the midd
careful design and workmanship. Only the so
one might well expect in the last years of the

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the crossing are more likely to date from either the beginning of the C
period, i.e. early I 3th century, or from the century before.
This I2th-century date seems the best guess in our present st
knowledge: while the interior has a strong resemblance to St. Eug
the exterior of the drum is simple to the point of grimness and has n
the refinements of mouldings which the Comnene churches show,
there or over the apse windows. It is more probable that St. Soph
St. Eugenios followed the Chrysocephalos in the way the drum is s
from the pendentive ring and the pendentives themselves brought fo
rather than the other way round.
The history of the church can be tentatively reconstructed th
(I) An early church or churches on the site, of dates unk

bishop's throne repaired in 9I4.
(2) A basilica, comprising the present building from apse to na
with six bays to nave and aisles, galleries over aisles, and nar
ioth or I ith century.
(3) Major reconstruction, involving raising the vault and inser
crossing and dome: exonarthex perhaps of this pe
12th century.
(4) Additions on north-east. I3th century.
(5) North porch. Late I3th or 14th century. Possibly apse w
enlarged at this time.
(6) South apse. i4th or I5th century.
And there was Acacius' reconstruction in 1340-50. But all r
uncertain. There is probably enough evidence hidden under plaster
most of the problems, but whether it will ever be possible to stu
another matter.
CHAPEL D. Plan and section, Fig. 5.

This building, hitherto unrecorded, stands in a high-walled garden and
its small size indicates that it was probably a private chapel. The vault is
It~i o,?'
'h b ii ovs, -
OV rr
stone Paving ecl t
j w? .j/j
I~rlll~rr ~ : J n)
FIG. 5. Plan, and section looking east, of Chapel D.
later than the walls and a raking joint on the west wall shows that it originally
had a timber roof. The large west windows and the tiny one over the apse

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arch belong to the second, post-Byzantine

similar masonry to Comnene period buildings
the apse window being so markedly off-centre,
NAKIP CAMI. Plan, Fig. 6 ; section, Fig. 7.

Converted into a mosque centuries ago, pro
Turkish conquest, the Christian dedication of th
in a map of Trebizond published in " Relat
S 0 I Z 3 4m.
lll l tl ....I t I I I
hitlII- - 1 ~
I ell,
S6.\ P\ mbi
I r cess?
. lb
FIG. 6. Plan
I604-1612 ",
church of St
right-angle i
certain, but
23A See below,

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mosque, is in the right position with reference to the west ravine, th

and the gate to the harbour.
This is the only surviving example in the town of the Anatolian
church, but it differs from the typical plateau church in several r
There is no narthex, though it has a north porch which is a later a
it has three apses, horseshoe in plan internally but with the cent
polygonal externally and the side ones rounded. The arcades have
curious lopsided stilt due to the west pair of columns being 75 cm
than the east pair (P1. XVIIc) : as all the columns are reused and t
the capitals are inverted bases, this was probably due to materials
rather than to any aesthetic conception. Large blocks of masonry w
6,rick.--Orc-6
mos~onri arch
vi ILJ
0
r%
FIG. 7. Section of Nakip Cami, looking east.
almost certainly of the classical period are used in the apses, which are of
good masonry except for the top I -50 m., which is much rougher ; the rest
of the walls are of smaller blocks with liberal use of mortar and the vaults
are of mortared rubble, though the lower part of the porch vault is of brick.
All the arches are of brick, including those over the original windows.
There are still traces of frescoes in the main apse; and in 1929
Professor Talbot Rice 24 was able to see considerably more, including some
on the exterior of the church : he tentatively assigned them to the 15th cen-
tury, though he points out that if the church became a mosque soon after
the conquest, they must be earlier than 1461. The church itself must be
considerably older : since it was clearly a humble one but even so had access
to classical fragments, the supply of which must eventually have given out,
it is probably reasonable to hazard a guess at the i oth or I Ith century.
Professor Talbot Rice considers it I Ith century. It is now a very dirty ruin.
24 Rice, op. cit., in note 5, p. I 13.

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ST. ANNE. Plan and section, Figs. 8 and 9.

By what chance of history this church was a
Christian worship is unknown, but it was in us
an old quarter of the town and not far outs
certainly the oldest church, having an inscri
relief over the door, which states that the c
It is known that the Emperor Basil the Mac
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,
S t f 7?1 m p_-t _
UP-
I~' o t 2 ,
lr~ l, , .. . l .. . c
FIG. 8. Plan of St. Anne.
repaired, in Constantinople and elsewhere, which had suffered during

iconoclastic period and Millet considered that St. Anne may well have b
one of them. How far the earlier plan was followed it is impossible to s
but as the masonry, including that of the apses, is all of one type it appea
that it was rebuilt completely.
It is the only Trapezuntine church to have a clerestory, which is n
commonly used with barrel-vaults in any area, though examples occur
Anatolia, Georgia, Greece and elsewhere. It seems that the ground lev
round the building must have dropped since the church was built, as t
walls of the crypt 26 are very rough and project beyond the face of the w
above-presumably they were originally below ground. Millet 27 says t
5a Millet, op. cit., in note 5, P-. 23.

6" The church of the Panaghia Evangelistria and Church A, both now destroyed, also
had crypts.
27 Millet, op. cit., in note 3, P- 443-

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there clearly was a narthex but there is no sign of it now : the outer face o
the west wall gives no indication of there having been any further structur
there. The present ground-floor window in that wall was certainly formerl
a door (Pl. XVIIIa).
The columns supporting the arcade are classical, with very shallow
bases : the capitals (P1. XVIIIb) are Ionic, with curious impost blocks wit
,0
va ulta Acr y t fnaccesJ~ l~le
FIG. 9. Section of St. Anne, looking east.
a form of dentil on them. All arches, including those over the window and
those of the crypt (the latter visible through a hole in the floor), are of brick.
The medieval pierced stone window-slabs remain, as do the semicircular
stone altars on one support. In the relieving arch over the south door, above
the relief already mentioned, there are several small stones carved with
curlicue crosses and other motifs : they are very like some at the Armenian
monastery of Kaymakh (see p. 169) and must have been inserted at some
later date.
Few traces of fresco remain visible, due as much to dirt and smoke as to
destruction : there were indications as late as 1929 that the exterior as well
as the interior had many paintings.
ST. BASIL. Plan, Fig. IO.

The main part of this church as it stands may be of late Comnene
period, i.e. I5th century : or it may date from after the Turkish conquest,

188.57.25.26 on Sun, 10 Jan 2021 07:59:42 UTC6 UTC
reusing materials from an earlier church. The

the narthex with gallery over were built in
stone in the north wall testifies to repairs to th
The masonry of the earlier part is compos
blocks, very like that of the apses of the chu
but instead of being confined to the apses, it is
of the church as well (P1. XVIIIc). The window
level ones in the transepts, are of the usual m
moulding runs over and between the window
P f ~ .9 ,OU
30/tr i 7 --i ove
i0 . .
galler
\ _
li p- 3-, . . . ..
_..r
,,~~~ ; !x ' I\
FIG. Io. Plan of St. Basil.
drum, just as it does in, for inst

handling. The use of barrel-vaults
typical Trapezuntine features. Ins
or early Byzantine ones and thr
Byzantine bases. There is a local tr
church somewhere along the coast t
narthex to church is also a reuse
swags and putti there is an ins
Chrysanthos records that there was
the church.
ST. EUGENIOS. Plan, Fig. II ; section, Fig. 12.

As St. Eugenios was the patron saint of Trebizond the church and
monastery dedicated to him must always have been of more than average
importance and it is, in fact, known to have been rich. Its position on the
ridge to the east of the East Ravine meant that it tended to get sacked by
any invading army that reached the city but failed to take it. In 1222 the
Turks got possession of the monastery and destroyed or severely damaged
it; and it was burnt down during a civil war in 1340. When Mehmet II
finally took Trebizond in 1461 he first said his prayers in this church, which
is therefore known as Yeni Cuma Cami'i (New Friday Mosque).
28 Chrysanthos, op. cit., in note 12, p. 439-

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PLATE XVI
?i: ii
?.-:?
(a) Ch
;ru- ~; ~$~" ?? ~B~F:~~~'Z "'~?~..i~t ~?f 'PYI~I~Y~L~~ ? '?~ rPr~g~rrr:

i 1II EZ1E~
?; ~dC~~ .:r
"I
?: ":-u
1?
"~C:::'
?*::
'??
::?"":
?';?;?? I:r??
??rx?
ly'
."'
Bi?
f?~h~? -???
'~!
,?;?.
n?a . ?aaP~i ?r?.,-; ti *i*
i
(b) Chrysocephalos, north porch.
..
?..
. . ..
.. . :..:.:;. : .
(c) Chrysocephalos, east wall of sou

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PLATE XVII
~._,Jt
?in~?? ?:i---?llll..- I .*k
::i:"
5-ad~'
~ii????
:I:
r 1 ? I~CP~F " i:iH:
I
t
;??? ?? ???;~::::?
ii 1..?'":::"
i..
sr:?
$jr~d~i~ji
li*yld
r, .ur*ls?
b?
??;?:r?
i
t
?*::
:**.-
"BE:
??!~?j1~~3~1h?;%~ S!O`:LT ~-- ~ia?-:?
g ?~ ' ?:?~?
~t~
(a) Chrysocephalos, interior looking east.
........ ... .:ii:
f::mI ~ "X: i RM 'AW
.4, - ??? x ...... .... XiX. XM% .-Z.
:x.i
x?14 x x Mi.
(b) Chrysocepha
`Al
". . . .. ..... . .
(c) Nalap Cami'i, interior looking south-east.

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.1 A.
i:i
z411
? ".,.: ,-ij ,
sha
(a) St. Anne, exter

i.:I
Xc.
(b) St Annecapita -and ., ,rm
?~ :!
:.:
rx
*i. : : i i
:: .::. " .d?.;

M:i:
' ." :..:..t.. ,.? ( t l teN
W.:Nr -:X~
..:...k:.'i~
XH:
... .
(b) St. Anne, capital and column. N, . N

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PLATE XIX
?t.'Nk. ..*..
..... .. ..
p?
UL
(a) St. Eugen
?? . .........
.. . .. .... .... ...
. .......
(b) St. Eugenios, interior looking west, upper part.
.... ... .....
; ..., ....:..... ..
xe i::.
::, i
i:',:: ?xIN
(c) St. Eugenios, interior look

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PLATE XX
~'i* ,. ?.
,' ,... ? .. . .p .. ...: .: , .. .. ^ . . . , . . ..:: . '; ,' ?., ,

/i ..? b? .:f .L, ,: . ..
x
.:.ra?i ,: ": "3~ . ,. .-+ ..:: :? .
NY....
fl A T
? .ri.. ?'?"
. .. :: ..g
,, r.
' :,:
?- .. ??- ;, ..
. .. A 9..
:: :' '?.":....
... ? . ...... "
i44,
"( .;
?* .....,
.'. ;'F'!' .- - :"
.- .. 1?...
.4,%v V . . .. . .... ,
.;. ...?* . e ?
(a) St. Philip, part of west wall showi
t :. . . ... .: :,ii~~~~.iiiy.:i.;iiii,5! :,:;

"-" 4
a . :: .i:.:. ;.. . . . .. ,
K K: i ;I.
(b) St. Philip, interior looking east.

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PLATE XXI
''?
''
I
r:
F~C 'i.
~?? . -'`?~ ~J; ..~~i-- *?Pii/l~
~--- ii'''
~*?1 if
?? ~i~*~l ;r
~a, I
?i 'iC
"'
a
;i.
,i
..
:?
ab?
.?%:~i~!"" ~* ..
..
~;i?I'?~?*E
rl* ??*? i. L:'*
s~SX~B~l~u~. i:"f~::
i.C: ?:?
?ri::?*r ?r .!i
a?,;:?..
: ???1-,. .:-
(a) St. Sophia from the north-west.
rr
ii?Iii8 Id:
... ?. ~ - ;*
aaa kr.... ..
, ,, ?.1??, ,,,.
:ii? .
...... ,, -I---il?* .. Iiia~~~
..... . . , Ia
.> . .? ""'" ..-f~
,..;?r ... ,, *. ,?..:~ ? \a

.? - . . ... . .
(b) St. Michael, Akqaabat, f

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...........
. .
(a) Kaymakh Monastery, apse of church and monastic buildings , IN

from the north-east.
!7.i:?
<.a...-o- ,. ......? M ;~.: :-".i
!G::
I?,r ,, .,r":I J
-LI-
. (c.)A o
IN HQ?]i. : V
Air'
(c) Apse of
(b) Kaymakhi Monastery, conch of church apse.

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Baklanov recognised the most important point about the plan of t

church, which is that it has been radically redesigned, having been original
a basilica. Along the north wall there are two engaged responding pilast
with no piers with which to respond, whereas the third or easternmo
matches up perfectly with the cross-shaped pier of the north nave arca
On the south wall there are only two pilasters, the central one having g
in the forming of the mihrab, but they match up with those of the no
wall; strangely, they have no side nibs, as the north wall ones have, f
0 o 2 3 4 5 7
$~ \
I / i \ i,, iI IS I
I \ I \ II #
Y y
loo
win djc I
h ig h Il e- ",'
/....1 1'Kido
i 1',.\ I 1 [
Glodced door Fro. ix. Plan of St. Eugenios.
blind arcading. It seems certain that originally th

shaped piers in each nave arcade and, by analogy w
churches, probably barrel-vaults over all the aisles.
The easternmost piers then were left and two mor
a dome. These two western piers are really rem
upper third of each is part of a " Doric " column, b
plastered, with twenty facets (not flutes), and th
ordinary square masonry pier. The capitals are invert
conventional impost blocks above. The result is pe
but, in fact, not as offensive as one might expect (
The builders perhaps did not want the dome bay
N

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vie with each other, for they have brought out

each of the responds on the west wall to reduce
of the dome. Or perhaps they did not want the
than those east of the dome, which are pr
surprisingly low considering the height of the a
proportion as those in the Chrysocephalos (t
for a gallery). Barrel-vaults were built, runni
gOQg
FIG. 12. Section of St. Eugenios, looking north.
dome bay to the outer walls, the final plan thus approximating to the
cross-in-square type.
The north porch is an addition, but still Byzantine; it has several
fragments of carving built into it, that over the door being the same as that
over the blocked south door.
The south windows are Moslem, as is the central west one; the latter
is said by Baklanov to replace the original central door and he also states
that, according to Texier, there was a narthex. Fallmerayer, early in the
19th century, saw 29 frescoes on the outside of the west wall depicting the
Emperors of Trebizond from Alexios I (1204-22) to Alexios III (1349-90)-
The south apse is slightly horseshoe in plan and has a brick cornice
externally where the other parts of the building have stone cornices of
various profiles ; it may therefore be of a different period or may owe its
cornice to repairs. The main apse has a cornice of Byzantine carving : most
of it is of the same design as the lintels over north and south doors, but in
addition there are two crosses and some other motifs. The irregularity of
29 Rice, op. cit., in note 5, p. 54, quotes Fallmerayer, Originalfragmente, I, p. I25-

188.57.25.26 on Sun, 10 Jan 2021 07:59:42 UTC
the placing of the crosses shows that the stones are reused, perhaps
earlier church. The masonry of the apses is good, with mouldings ro
heads of and between the windows; the rest of the masonry is,
rougher. The dome drum is particularly attractive (P1. XIXa) with
sides and windows, the latter being deeply inset and with a moulding
the head of the arches and linking them. The drum is set in an
manner in that the axes of the church pass not through a wind
through a pier of masonry. Internally it stands some 60-70 cm. b
the pendentives, with a railing round the gallery thus formed.
Frescoes were visible internally in Baklanov's time as well as t
the narthex already mentioned and some on the outside of the ap
had by then disappeared; and there is an opus sectile pavement s
Marengo but now covered. This bears a date 1291 and a fragment
with the same date, possibly from a tomb, is mentioned by Mil
pavement has apparently been twice repaired since then.30 The m
is known to have existed in 1223 ; so the first period of the church
earlier than that and bearing in mind its resemblances to the
cephalos-cross-shaped piers, low nave arcades-it probably was. A
point in favour is that every known church (except for one small
destroyed) of the Comnene period has a dome and the original St.
could not have done so, since the proportions of its bays are wron
The rebuilding in its present form is likely to have taken plac
in 1291 or after the catastrophe of 1340. It may be coincidence
former date appears twice; if the pavement were visible its exten
indicate to which period of the church it belonged. The fire of 1
have necessitated a lot of repair or rebuilding and perhaps it is m
to believe that the fabric of the church we see to-day is chiefly mid-
tury, though that does not prove that its plan had not already be
half a century earlier.
ST. PHILIP. Plan, Fig. 13 ; section, Fig. 14. P1. XXb.

Possibly because it was well outside the main part of the tow
church of St. Philip was not converted into a mosque at the
conquest, but became the Christian cathedral, the Chrysocephal
been taken over by Islam at once; but in 1665 the same fate
St. Philip's.31
The original church consisted of the polygonal apse, domed naos and
short western bay. The single bay and single apse church must, it would
seem, have been most inconvenient for the Greek rite, in which, after the
early centuries, prothesis and diaconicon were used; hence it is not a usual
plan in late times and its continuance in this area may be another example
of great conservatism. There was a door in the north wall of the naos and
80 Rice, op. cit., in note 5, p. 54, quotes Minzlov, The Epic of Trebizond (in Russian),
Berlin, c. I922.
8x Rice, op. cit., in note 5, quotes KvptccKiou, 'Iaoropia -rs ovs ri'tS ouvar, Athens,
1898, pp. go f.
NO

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16o ANATOLIAN STUDIES
the west bay may have had entran

When the church became the cathe
it had a south door, either a door o
arcade of three arches at the west.
survives as a window, complete wit
of the other two, which were lowe
though it is not easy to bring th
masonry of the southern end of th
the sharp line where it ends marks t
stone just north of this point must h
------hoslcun- par
I~ ~ / I i1 I
I~ t/
1 1rr
Ii/r
I ~II '1
I ,i
1I
I
\ o I I I l - im
i,,i ...1\1_i i
FIG. I3. Plan of St. Philip.
in in the blocking; the larger ones higher up are symmetrically placed a

may be contemporary with the arcade, though they seem to come so clo
to the openings that they must have cut into the voussoirs. The south w
of the western addition is also of good masonry as high as the spring of th
vault; the masonry of the north wall cannot be seen as it is inside the
immense Moslem porch and has been plastered over, but it retains a carv
cornice at vault spring level.
The apse is of good close-jointed masonry, with mouldings over an
between the windows; from what one can see of the other walls of th
original church, they are of the usual rougher type of masonry. The do
drum is twelve-sided ; it has a cornice rather like those of St. Eugenios and
St. Sophia, but the moulding linking the heads of the windows is a simp
rounded one with a curious knot motif at the arch springing.
The interior is very plain now, though in Byzantine times it doubtless
was covered with frescoes. The capitals in the west wall are an odd pair
the south one has Moslem-type " stalactite " decoration but is no mor
curious in a Christian church than some of the decoration at St. Soph

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THE BYZANTINE CHURCHES OF TREBIZOND 16I
the north one is hard to make out but Professor Talbot R

smothered in whitewash than it is now, thought that th
single-headed eagles, the Comnene emblem (as opp
headed eagles of the Palaeolbgue Emperors in Con
U 000
\\Li
FIG. 14. Section of St. Philip, looking north.
capitals, and the zigzag archivolt moulding, may well have been brought
here from another Byzantine building.
Millet dated this church to the thirteenth century but Chrysanthos
states that traditionally it was founded by Anna, daughter of Alexios III
who ruled 1349-90.
ST. SOPHIA. Plan, Fig. 15. Pl. XXIa.

Though this is one of the most interesting and probably the most
attractive of the Trapezuntine churches, it will only be described briefly
here, as it will be fully discussed from an architectural viewpoint in a full
publication which the Russell Trust Expedition intends to bring out after
the work of cleaning the wall paintings is complete.
The basic plan as it stands approximates to a cross-in-square, with
columns supporting the dome, the east bays of the aisles barrel-vaulted and
the longer west bays cross-vaulted. It is probable that the plan was some-
what altered during the course of construction, as the ribs of the arches
springing from the columns do not marry up tidily with the pilasters on the
walls and to the west of the north door rib and pilaster scarcely coincide at
all. The narthex is an unusual feature in Trebizond and for the three great
porches it is hard to find a parallel anywhere; though the x2th-century
Georgian churches at Gelati, Manglis and Akhtala all have one or more

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large porches and at Pitzounda (9th

are fair-sized examples both on nor
There is a small chapel over the n
timber stair : there is no sign that t
the small door by which one enters i
The floor of the chapel (or roof of
to the west porch, showing that th
time.
Other points of interest in the church are the synthronos ; remains of

stone paving in north porch, narthex and north aisle; battered but once
fine opus sectile floor in the dome bay, containing nine different kinds of
marble ; and the magnificent set of capitals, columns and bases whose date,
within centuries, is a matter of discussion. The capitals and columns of the
porches are all re-used ones and are of various dates from the 5th century 32
onwards; there is also a considerable number of carved stones in the form
of roundels set in the walls, which have very strong Armenian and Seljuk
affinities. The " honeycomb " imposts of the west porch are even more
puzzling, but can be compared with some at the church of the Holy
Apostles at Ani.33 The well-known carvings in the tympanum of the south
porch have been dealt with thoroughly by Alpatov.34
Though the actual date of founding is still obscure, it appears certain
that St. Sophia was built under imperial patronage-it has the single-
headed Comnene eagle over the central window in the main apse and in the
south porch tympanum-and as Finlay 35 reported seeing the portrait of
the Emperor Manuel I (1238-63) among the wall-paintings, it must have
been built some time between the founding of the Empire in I204 and
about I26o. It was converted into a mosque 36 in 1573, though the south
porch, where the mihrab now is, was still open like the others as late as
I840 when Hamilton saw it.
N. Brounov,37 who made a detailed study of the church in 1917,
advanced the theory that it was originally built as a basilica and altered to
its present form later, when the porches were also added. The latter point
is certainly disproved by the existence of a particular narrow course of
masonry containing many blocks of a red stone not used elsewhere in the
building, which runs right round the entire periphery, porches as well as
the body of the church, and the basilican theory is certainly not proved.
His further idea, of galleries enclosing the angles between the porches,
could only be established if the foundations could be found by digging.
More information about the structure may come to light during the cleaning
of the paintings.
32 Strzygowski, BCH, XIX, pp. 518 ff.

33 Strzygowski, Die Baukunst der Armenier und Europa, Vienna, i918, Fig. 775-
35 Millet, op. cit., in note 3, quotes Finlay, History of Greece, Oxford, 1877, p. 394.
38 Evliya Effendi, trans. J. von Hammer-PiUrgstall, Narratives of Travels in Europe, Asia
and Africa, London, 1834, p. 45.

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\NORT H PO
,0 aded
, t1.-a . 4S-?I 17 * .,
W\
It I/
S0 c '1
..-- - II
WE57 --7 . . . !,
14?)3 . ,,.t0 \
Fio N5. Pla of St oha

SOUTH POACHI
FG I.r" \ o
S\5

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ZEYTINLIK CAMi'i. Plan, Fig. I6.

Though battered and in bad repair, the ea
was clearly once that of a church. Its dedic
hitherto unrecorded. The apses are built of
a plinth which has now lost its facing; what
also back to the mortared rubble and has a b
wall much of the facing remains, but some
/ O I 2 3 4 r-.
I 1111ll11 l I I I 1
Ir"
Ii
FIG. I6. Plan of Zeytinlik Cami' .
most of it is of thin (c. Io cm.) slabs, but with some nar ow header stones
bonded back into the rub le core. Mouldings can be made out round the
windows ; and the west do r of the mosque has a stone with carved inter-
lacing decoration over it, clearly re-used from the church. Dating is
dif icult : thre rounded apses only oc ur in Trebizond in the 9th-century
rebuilding of the church of St. An e, but the masonry and window
mouldings point rather to the period of St. Sophia and the other 13th- and
14th-century churches.
Outside Trebizond
ST. MICHAEL AKgA BAT. Plan, Fig. 17 ; section, Fig. 18.
Akga bat is a fair-sized town eight miles west of Trebizond; the
church of St. Michael, which is in a suburb high up to the south of the town,
was se n by Hamilton in 1840, when the priest told him that it was then
80 years old, but Profes or Talbot Rice considers it more likely to be
13th- or I4th-century. It is now in use as a house. The church was restored
and extended in 1846, as is at ested by a long inscription over the north
do r ; the medieval structure is easily distinguished from the 19th-century
parts, the plan being nearly identical with that of the church of St. Phil p
(se p. 159). The present dome and drum, though entirely restored, are

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doubtless reasonably like the originals. The interior of the ch

typically plain Trapezuntine; there is no sign of wall-paintings, b
opus sectile floor, in black, white, green and terracotta red, may be si
to an original one, though a complete restoration.
1 0 1 2 .3 4 f Gnm.
I,,l,,,, I
Orhsppra
I\ v-l-~'0
I I I
iI \, I,,-
FIo. 17. Plan of St. Michael, Akgaabat.
Sill
I
Lio L
. i.
FIo. 18. Section of St. Michael, looking east.
The great interest of the church, however, lies in its exterior (Pl. XXIb),
as it is entirely different from anything else in the region. Firstly, it i
built of a light-coloured stone with variegated shades of pinkish-brown
green and yellow, totally unlike the dull, dark grey or brown stone which is
universal locally. Secondly, it is richly decorated with blind arcading in

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three levels, separated by bands of

apse, with rope mouldings round th
levels on north and south walls of t
simplicity. The pediments which f
unrelated to the arcading, spanning
and four and a half on the south, w
1 o I 2 3 4
hii, ,II I 1 I ! I
FIG. 19. Plan, and section looking west, of church a
may date from the 1846 restoration), th

arcading, are off-centre to the dome. The
been repaired or blocked in the same mason
Armenian or Georgian influence must
exterior, but it seems certain that it wa
not only is the plan typically Trapezunt
grasp the significance of blind arcading
plan shows that this was a concept quite
stone must have been brought from a dista

188.57.25.26 on Sun, 10 Jan 2021 07:59:42 UTC
It is interesting to note that the curious octagonal church of Varz

about 20 km. north-west of Bayburt, is in most respects very Arm
character and has a similar rope-moulding to that in St. Michael
external blind arcading. Further rope-mouldings occur on the nor
of Chrysocephalos and on the dome drum of St. Philip.
ORTA MAHALLE, AKCAABAT. Plan and section, Fig. 19.

This small and hitherto unrecorded church lies about half a mile to
the south of St. Michael ; though still in a fair state of repair its use as byre
and henhouse is likely to hasten its end. The rounded apse with parallel-
sided windows, the barrel-vaulted naos with one rib, the coarse but solidly
built masonry and the use of brick for window arches are all typical of
medieval work in this area. The further west of the two doors is probably
a late cutting and the brick cornice (Pl. XXIIc) may not be original. The
west wall is most remarkable : though the quoins appear to indicate that
there was no further extension to the west, practically the whole elevation is
taken up with two openings (see section) ; the lower one, with the crown of
the arch I -20 m. from the floor, might have been a tomb recess ; the arch
enclosing the upper one is slightly forward of the lower and is carried on
corbels. Both are now roughly blocked. There are remains of wall-paintings
on the internal face of the south wall, near the apse ; only a Deesis can be
distinguished.
CASTLE CHURCH, BAYBURT.39 Plan, Fig. 20.

The great castle of Bayburt, though mainly Turkish as it stands now,
has a stretch of wall along its north-east side which must be much earlier
and, indeed, there is said to have been an Armenian castle here in the time
of the Bagratid dynasty (885-1044) and even earlier.40 Whether this area
was ever part of the Empire of Trebizond does not appear to be known,
though at one time it was in High Armenia ; but the ruined church which
survives in the castle has the very typical Trapezuntine feature of two
rounded side apses combined with a polygonal central one-an arrange-
ment unknown in Armenia. So little is left of the rest of the building that it
is uncertain whether it was domed or barrel-vaulted. It is built up con-
siderably on the north side and probably had a crypt.
The masonry is of rather larger blocks than is common on the coast and
is the same in apses and side walls.
FETOKA. Plan, Fig. 2 I.

On the eastern slope of a deep valley running down to the coast at
Surmene, and about sixteen miles from the sea, are the ruins of a monastery.
The surveying and unravelling of the whole plan would not be easy, but the
38 op. cit., in note 33, pls. 520, 521.

39 I am indebted to Miss Freya Stark for information of the existence of this church.
40 Texier, op. cit., in note I, p. 59 ; Travels of Marco Polo, ed. by H. Cordier, London,
1903, Vol. I, p. 49.

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I...
/ I-
S2 3 4
I I
I I I i,
I I "
I I
L ! -
FIG. 20. Plan
church or ch
approximat
roughly squa
mortar, as fa
entirely rob
polygonal in
I o
i. 21. Plan of I church at Fetoka
FZo. a . Plan of church at Fetoka.

188.57.25.26 on Sun, 10 Jan 2021 07:59:42 UTC
and the opening on the north, which may have been door or window,
each one or two large jamb stones in position. A large block, probabl
lintel, which is lying nearby may have come from this building: it h
long inscription in Byzantine Greek which is probably a quotation fro
sacred writing and conveniently bears the date A.D. 944-945-
There are reports of other churches in this valley.
THE ARMENIAN MONASTERY OF KAYMAKLI. Plan, Fig. 22.

This monastery is situated about two miles from Trebizond on the we
slope of the valley of the ancient River Pyxites, up which runs the gr
trade route over the Zigana pass to Eastern Anatolia and Persia. Th
were Armenian monks here until after the First World War, but the chur
is now roofless, the open belfry has disappeared (though its ground-f
structure remains) and the chapel and range of monastic buildings
gradually disintegrating.
The history of the monastery may be locked away somewhere in t
archives of the Armenian church but nothing seems to be known of
locally. The tiny chapel (internal measurements excluding apse 2
x I "71 m.) has an inscription in Armenian on the huge lintel over the doo
which gives the date I622,41 but there is no indication of the date of
main church. Professor Talbot Rice is of the opinion that the frescoes in t
latter are of mid-i8th century date at earliest; but at the west end of
south wall part of an earlier layer is now visible; and since Bordier 4
the first decade of the I7th century visited an Armenian monastery whic
from his description of its position, must certainly be Kaymakli and n
that the many paintings in the church included the Mysteries of the Pass
and lives of saints and bishops, it is reasonable to suppose that the pre
church was standing then. Its fabric, or parts of it, may well date from t
i6th century or earlier : the apse (P1. XXIIa), which is the oldest par
built of alternating deep and shallow courses, smoothly dressed and clo
jointed, with a slightly projecting plinth at the base; in all very like
apse of St. Sophia. The north wall, though it appears to be later than
apse, is of fair-sized squared blocks ; the south and west walls are still late
of much rougher construction and with a number of carved stones w
Armenian-type crosses built in below the central window of the south wa
the narthex, now gone except for vestiges of foundations, was latest of
The apse has a neatly constructed masonry semi-dome (P1. XXIIb)
unlike any other church of any period in the neighbourhood, the naos
a simple gabled timber roof. The high window in the west gable is a
cutting.
In addition to the frescoes which cover almost the whole of the walls
and which Professor Talbot Rice considers to be strongly Armenian in
41 Rice, op. cit., in note 6, p. 140.

42Julien Bordier, " Relation d'un Voyage en Orient i604-1612," ed. by Chrysanthos
in 'APXEiOV ov-rov, 6, Athens, 1934-

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CHAPEL
I 2 4 4 7m.
B CrII I I
oundoiion Chu
ohc 6c
-1 )71 ccntur ? all nove windows It Mon

ore .t h17 Orh 18kl c
C U C H Later blo.kiln
FIG. 22. Plan of church, chapel and belfry

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character, the carved decorative niches in north and south walls are
very distinctive.
The little chapel already mentioned has a vault, slightly pointed,
mortared rubble, with hollow earthenware pots built in just abov
spring. The inscribed apse is the only example in the district of this
common Armenian treatment of the east end of a church, but in fact it
small that it would have been difficult to do much else with it. Some
frescoes remain in it.
Of the other buildings, the belfry, judging from the style of masonry,
may be contemporary with the second period of the church : the range of
monastic buildings on the south-east angle of the enclosure appear to be
much later. Foundations of other buildings lie below a modern barn and
farmhouses. The whole enclosure is built up on north and east on a terrace
wall which rises to a maximum height of about 4 m.
ST. BARBARA. Plan, Fig. 23.

The remains of a small monastery, locally known as Ayvarvar, stands
on a high bluff overlooking the sea about four miles west of Trebizond ; it
has not been recorded previously. Only the church can be distinguished,
parts of it still standing 2 m. high. The apse, slightly horseshoe in plan
n---0
4-"50m.l
/ ,1111 I I I I " .
I" I0 S I
/, 1
4i O
I
-I
dm dim M? dw 4m
-; I
S//:/.
Li /"-..//.. .
FIG. 23. Plan of St. Barbara.
internally, was faced with more smoothl

(45-55 cm. long x 20-30 cm. deep) than the
away but enough remain on the north sid
polygonal externally. The church would cert
the small chapel on the north and the nart
additions, may have been vaulted or may hav

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SUMMARY
It is not easy to sum up Trapezuntine archite

analyse it : in the relatively small number of
wide diversity of plans and of decorative featur
most interesting, St. Sophia and the Chrysoce
ways partially at least outside the general pat
The principal local characteristics are :-
(i) Use of basilicas, both barn-church and c
the introduction of the dome a tendency to c
teristics ; e.g. if there is a single bay west of th
much longer east-west than north-south. (It is
was still the custom in the 19th century.) Even
plan of a domed square bay is used, the churc
of a west bay.
(2) The use of the dome; at what date this
not known but it was probably not before th
by which time it was practically standard f
Byzantine world. Domes are invariably suppo
drums ; there is never more than one to a chur
the pendentives are brought forward and the ac
the top slightly decreased by the building of th
in one or two " orders "-see P1. XIXb and Fi
then set back, leaving a narrow gallery roun
ring; the total effect is to dissociate dome and
but whether this gives quite the sublime and "
it by Millet and Baklanov is a matter of opini
(3) Almost exclusive use of barrel-vaults.
was a common form on the Anatolian platea
Arab wars; in Armenia and in Georgia it
7th century. In these countries the dome the
of the churches continued to have a rectangu
with barrel-vaults over the aisles and the long
the aisles are barrel-vaulted and the west ba
this is probably due to the tenacity of the basil
foreign influence.
(4) Three projecting apses normal in a thr
cephalos is the only exception) ; but the cen
(with five sides) externally, though the side
apses were common, though perhaps rather
Anatolia from an early date; they were alway
(St. John in Trullo being the only exception
rounded side ones is uncommon anywhere and
places : there are two examples at Trillya,
others at Iznik (the ancient Nicaea) ; St. Sop
Salonika; St. Sophia, Ochrida (Macedo
"' BZ., 1927, p. 85.

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(Brunov's plan, Wulff shows a round central apse) ; St. Sophia, No

St. Sophia, Kiev (K. J. Conant's reconstruction).44 There are
or two examples in Italy which can be considered irrelevant. O
most have a three-sided central apse, only Mokwi and the Russian e
having five (or more) sides ; and as these latter examples are all of
century date, whereas most of the others are earlier, it seems highly
that the influence for this feature came from Georgia and Russia.
(5) Large porches were frequent: St. Sophia has them on n
south and west; St. Eugenios, St. Philip, Nakip Cami and the C
cephalos on the north only and as later additions. Such porch
found occasionally in Armenia; in Georgia, at Mokwi (i i th-ce
Gelati, Manglis and Akhtala (all I2th-century) ; and occasion
Russia. Thus the same influences appear to have been at work for
as for apses, though why the north side should have been chosen f
porches is obscure.
(6) Windows are always single, never multiple (except for the
ones in the narthex chapel of St. Sophia) ; in the earlier periods th
are parallel in plan, not tapering to the exterior, but later (a
St. Eugenios) a slight taper is introduced in the much larger w
Wide shallow mouldings round the heads of and between the apse w
occur in St. Sophia, St. Philip, St. Basil, St. Eugenios and Zeytinlik
all of which are probably of Empire date. Mouldings in this posit
rare in Anatolia, but very common in Armenia and Georgia.
(7) Use of horseshoe and pointed arches: arches slightly hor
in shape occur in Nakip Cami, St. Philip (apse) and St. Eugenios ; s
pointed ones in the dome bays of St. Eugenios and the Chrysocep
in the long west bay of St. Philip and in all three porches of St. Sophi
apses of Nakip Cami are horseshoe on plan, as is the south
St. Eugenios. The horseshoe apse and arch are fairly common in A
and in Armenia from the 6th century or earlier ; the genesis of the p
arch is more obscure, but it occurs at Qasr-ibn-Wardan in the 6th
and Creswell 45 gives several early Islamic examples. In Armenia it
fairly common use in later centuries.
(8) The masonry in the body of the church is always rougher (
in St. Basil) than that of the apses, which is well-worked, closely-joint
of larger stones (though not in St. Anne). Arches, where visible, are of
vaults, where visible, of mortared rubble. One factor common to
medieval churches except the earliest, St. Anne, and the latest ph
St. Eugenios (and omitting the two doubtfuls, St. Basil and Churc
the addition of masonry to the external walls above the spring of the
inside : the masonry below the cornice is different from and inferior
rest of the walls. The reason is probably that the vaults were orig
roofed with lead or copper (or just possibly bitumen) as is believed
been the case at St. Saviour in Chora, Constantinople, for example,
44 The Art and Architecture of Russia, Pelican History of Art, 1954, P1. I.
,5 A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture, Penguin Books, 1958, p. 03.
I

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the earlier Russian churches. At some time, p

or perhaps since the Turkish conquest, the adva
for throwing off rain may have been realised a
altered. Possibly St. Eugenios was rebuilt for
which would account for the uniformity of its w
It should, however, be noted that Hatuniye C
in the town, has a lead roof.
(9) Decoration. As mentioned at the begi
emphasis is on architecture, but decorative
ignored. The local stone, of a singularly d
texture, was not sympathetic to fine mouldin
dome drums of St. Philip and St. Eugenios an
of St. Sophia, for example, show how much cou
with a coat of whitewash as a help in showing u
But by far the greater part of the interest a
in the wall-paintings, though whether there
the artists were brought in and, if so, from
prevalence of these paintings is notable and,
travellers, there were many on the exterior of t
some survived into this century. The custom
existed also in Serbia, in Roumania and in
survive, if indeed there ever were any: the
sectile work on the bema walls of the Chryso
the same sort of style in St. Sophia has a pa
Pantocrator church in Constantinople; the re
similar floors now covered in St. Eugenios an
indicate whether or not they are of the same t
CONCLUSION
Thus the earliest and most powerful in

Anatolian : the use of basilicas, of horseshoe
vaults and of five-sided apses may all originally
and, since most of the existing Trebizond ch
after the Seljuk Turks had put an end to such a
the tenacity of the tradition-or perhaps the l
of the local builders-is remarkable. The st
cannot, of course, be known, but it is proba
9th-century church of St. Anne is typical of th
As Trebizond was the port for shipping to
came along the great trade route from Anato
further east, it is to be expected that her archi
influence from that direction.
The dome may have been introduced from Armenia but, if so, the
subsequent treatment of it is totally different; the use of large porches and
of mouldings over apse windows are both probably due to Georgian
influence at the time of the Comnene Empire, but are not of major

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importance. Similarities with some of the Russian churches are p

due to exchange of ideas along the Black Sea trade routes and the
may have been either way, or both ways. It must not be forgotte
over, that the Chersonese was for a time under the control
Trapezuntine emperors. The lack of Constantinopolitan trends is s
as much trade must have passed between Trebizond and the capit
the opus sectile floor and the columns, capitals and bases in St. Sop
perhaps floors in some of the other churches) are almost the only
any contact at all. (The question of the paintings is still under disc
Trebizond, like Asia Minor in general, was more of the East than
West; and its architecture, in its synthesis of various elements,
resolutely individual. Though its warmest advocate cannot call
great, a solid dignity and a sure feeling for interior space can cer
claimed for it.

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The Byzantine Churches of Trebizond

Author(s): Selina Ballance

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3642433

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THE MATERIAL IN this article was collected during a three-m

The justification for carrying out this survey of the churches of

1 C. Texier, Description de l'Armdnie, la Perse et la Misopotamie, Paris, i842, pp. 49,

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plans. Finally, Professor Talbot Rice's public

6 D. Talbot Rice, " Religious Buildings of Trebizond," Byzantion, V, pp. 47 et seq.

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tR.YS OCEPH A LOS

0% of 0 6.14 ST. PIRILIP

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broken hatching for the latest period of e

The dating of the churches is extremely difficult. There is a paucity of

14 Millet gives many other inscriptions in an article " Inscriptions Byzantines de

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within any given church is complicated by the fact that s

CHURCH C. Plan and section, Figs. 2 and 3. P1. XVIa.

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evident in the barrel-vaulting, not cross-vaultin

THE CHRYSOCEPHALOS. Plan, Fig. 4.

Unlike the other three-aisled churches in Trebizond, the Chr

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'I;, oYo/\ o<I I "1

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being five-sided and of finer masonry than th

18 Professor Talbot Rice considers that it was moved

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19 Millet, op. cit., in note 3, p. 458, quotes Marengo in Missions Catho

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quite bear out this theory. The dome piers ar

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(I) An early church or churches on the site, of dates unk

CHAPEL D. Plan and section, Fig. 5.

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arch belong to the second, post-Byzantine

NAKIP CAMI. Plan, Fig. 6 ; section, Fig. 7.

23A See below,

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mosque, is in the right position with reference to the west ravine, th

FIG. 7. Section of Nakip Cami, looking east.

24 Rice, op. cit., in note 5, p. I 13.

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ST. ANNE. Plan and section, Figs. 8 and 9.

repaired, in Constantinople and elsewhere, which had suffered during

5a Millet, op. cit., in note 5, P-. 23.

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va ulta Acr y t fnaccesJ~ l~le

FIG. 9. Section of St. Anne, looking east.

ST. BASIL. Plan, Fig. IO.

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reusing materials from an earlier church. The

30/tr i 7 --i ove

FIG. Io. Plan of St. Basil.

drum, just as it does in, for inst

ST. EUGENIOS. Plan, Fig. II ; section, Fig. 12.

28 Chrysanthos, op. cit., in note 12, p. 439-

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;ru- ~; ~$~" ?? ~B~F:~~~'Z "'~?~..i~t ~?f 'PYI~I~Y~L~~ ? '?~ rPr~g~rrr:

(b) Chrysocephalos, north porch.